Golden Princess Review

4.0 / 5.0
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Loved the Golden Princess!

Review for Hawaii Cruise on Golden Princess
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Kansasgirl
First Time Cruiser • Age 2020s

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Sail Date: Feb 2010

We chose to fly into SNA (John Wayne Int'l Airport) because the flights from Kansas City were less complicated than into LAX, and because it's a smaller airport. We pre-booked Karmel Shuttle, and we called when we collected our luggage and they were there within 10 minutes. We were the only passengers, so went straight to Crowne Plaza in San Pedro. The shuttle cost was $57 for the two of us (+ tip). We booked through Crowne Plaza directly, as we specifically wanted that hotel (rather than Doubletree) because of its location near the port, so we paid $144 for CP. We figured we saved some $ on taxi fares, as we walked where we needed to go in San Pedro and also walked to the pier for embarkation. We found the Crowne Plaza very comfortable and the location was very convenient for us. We checked out of the hotel around 10 am and walked to the pier - it was a 15-20 minute walk with our luggage (we pack lightly - if you have more than one bag to handle or if you have any ambulatory problems, it would be very difficult). We went through check-in (which was a breeze), then had about an hour wait in a large waiting area until they allowed boarding on the ship, at which time we went through security (which was kind of a madhouse)and walked onto the ship and to our stateroom (A216) to drop off carry-on bags. Our stateroom was almost all the way forward and an inside stateroom-we like the layout of Princess staterooms, and felt we had plenty of room (we had a miniscule cabin on the Norwegian Majesty last year - this felt like a suite compared to it!). We try to pack light, so didn't need a lot of storage space for bags, clothing or toiletries. Our room steward was Michael, he was wonderful - very efficient and unobtrusive, always called us by name, we always enjoyed visiting with him and felt he did an excellent job. We had Anytime Dining, and enjoyed all of our tablemates. We didn't always choose to eat in the dining room - some days we were just too lazy to get dressed up for dinner. We tried both specialty restaurants and thoroughly enjoyed them both - WAY too much food, but we both found things we really liked, and the service was wonderful. Recommendations: Crown Grill - the appetizer lobster tails, the tiger shrimp (with chili-garlic sauce) and the berry-apple cobbler and the molten Dutch chocolate cake; Sabatini's - the ricotta-potato ravioli, margherita pizza and lobster, and the white chocolate mousse w/limoncello - oh my! We only used room service for hot tea, but it always arrived very promptlyand they brought plenty, and the water was hot. What more can you ask? The International Cafe was a great alternative, and their sandwiches werealways yummy and they had the very best cookies! Their dessert case madeyou want one of everything! I especially enjoyed the coffee bar - for thehot tea. You could use the coffee card and get unlimited plain coffee or hot tea, or get (I think) 16 specialty coffees with the card. I liked getting the hot tea in a ceramic pot and finding a quiet spot to read and sip tea (you could also get it in a paper cup to go). We found the food in the buffet to be good overall - yes, there were some things that weren't great, but there was always something very good to be had. Our complaint about the buffet would be the traffic flow (the set-up of the serving areas is not well organized and doesn't flow smoothly), especially when you add a wheelchair or scooter in the mix. The staff were really wonderful about helping people with mobility problems, either carrying trays for them or going through the buffet for them. The median age was probably 65 +/-, lots of retirees – there were someyoung people on the cruise, a few families but mostly middle age and older.We are 49 and 51 and were definitely in the younger crowd, but we didexpect as much and it was not a problem. I’d say a lot of the activitieswere geared toward an older crowd – lots of trivia games, ceramics/crafts,a lecture series on Atlantic passenger liners (which was wonderful!),several classic movies on the ship’s TV and MUTS during the day. There werealso the lei-making, hula and ukulele classes, but we participated in verylittle of the organized activities. There were computer and digitalphotography classes available (I believe the fee was $25 for a 1-hourclass). I took a couple of the computer classes with Ryan, who was veryknowledgeable and helpful. My husband took a couple of digital photographyclasses, and said he learned quite a bit. Mostly for us, vacation is aboutvegging – laying around and reading books, catching an occasional movie,napping, laying by the pool (weather permitting) and eating too much – so Ican’t comment on most of the organized activities, except to say thatpeople seemed to enjoy them and participate quite a bit. The weather was cool and windy for several of the days at sea – in fact,there were only a couple of days that were comfortable to be in a loungerwearing a swimsuit. It was difficult to find a chair in the covered poolarea, and chair hogs were plentiful at all the pool areas (well, actually, all public areas, especially the piazza area). One thing we thought was odd was that the gym didn’t open until 7am. The first 2-3 days it was impossible to get near a treadmill or exercise bike without a long wait, but after the first few days it tapered off, and by the end of the trip you had your pick of equipment. We chose to take the stairs as much as possible, and actually only used the elevator maybe 3 times in two weeks. It was our way to balance our overeating! Those stairs get pretty difficult after 2-3 flights when going from 5th floor to the 12th! A hint: the stairs were never crowded, and I didn’t gain any weight even though I ate what I wanted. We used the self-service laundry several times, and the first part of the cruise, it was pretty empty. However, as we got into the ports and especially during week 2, it was hopping. And beware the laundry ladies – I teased my husband about getting into a knockdown-drag out tussle with the ladies in the laundry room….don’t expect to find an empty washer or dryer on your first try, and do expect to wait for an empty machine and wait until it’s done – my husband recommends a couple of beers and a book! We booked all our tours independently, as we just don’t enjoy large-group tours and the ship’s tours really are expensive (but they’re handy if you don’t want to do the planning yourself). We like going on our own and have had good experiences.

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